2017 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir
Estimated value
Buying options
Tasting notes
Deep, glistening red. Sexy, assertively perfumed aromas of fresh red fruits, potpourri and baking spices, with a hint of cola in the background. Juicy and focused on the palate, Jay's 2017 Pinot Noir offers vibrant raspberry, bitter cherry, blood orange and rose pastille flavors and a late jolt of spicy white pepper. Made in a fresh, exuberant style, with silky tannins sneaking in slowly to add shape and grip to the impressively long, spice-accented finish. Aged in 30% new oak.
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
James Suckling
More reviews and scores
Nicolas-Jay is a Pinot Noir venture between celebrated Burgundian winemaker Jean-Nicolas Méo of Domaine Méo-Camuzet and renowned music and media entrepreneur Jay Boberg. Traditional French winemaking meets quintessential Oregon terroir. Fruit for this wine is sourced from almost every AVA in the Willamette Valley, but almost exclusively from biodynamic, organic and LIVE certified vineyards. Unique sites include high-elevation Eola-Amity Hills, the foothills of the cool coastal range in the McMinnville AVA, the warm red-soiled vineyards of the Dundee Hills and their expressive Bishop Creek Vineyard in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA. 2017 was a cool harvest following a 10-day heat spike. 30% new French oak. Rich and juicy with sweet fruit. Lots to enjoy here (apart from the price) and more moderate and balanced than some other wines from this producer I have tasted. Shows the pleasure to be had from Oregon Pinot... (JR)
Very attractive, ripe red and dark cherries, framed in ground espresso, leading to a rich, red-cherry and plum palate that has abundant flesh and spicy, cherry-pip tang to close. Drink or hold.